Just Another
by dearbluebrid
Summary: Sakura meets a man on the battle field. It isn't Sasuke, nor is it Naruto. Can another man teach Sakura what it really means to love life?


Just another fanfic

"Honestly Sakura! Get it together!" Tsunade barked. "Sakura, are you even listening?"

They were bent over a wounded soldier, and the solid earth was digging into her soft knees. Tsunade kept yelling commands to other healers, but Sakura got most of the lashing from her.

"Sakura!"

"I'm trying!"

"No, No you're not!" She replied. A powerful gust of wind cut through their faces, and the dark ash scattered the sky above them. It was a grey and humid afternoon, and the sticky sweat sank underneath her fingertips. There was blood on her face and she could feel it dry out.

"Pressure here." Tsunade said, pressing a cloth onto the man's leg. She stood up hastily and went to help another man.

"But Tsunade, this is.."

"I know. It's a main artery. At least pretend like he has a chance okay?" She whispered. "Ask him his name, and what he wants to tell his wife whenhe passes."

Sakura nodded sadly and brushed the dark hair away from the man's face. She was nothing in this barren wasteland but a medic with good chakara control. Tsunade definitely recognized her talent for healing, but she was just a sparkle in her eyes. She wanted to be stronger. Strong enough to fight with Naruto and Sasuke.

"What's your name sir?" She asked him.

"Kenji… my name's kenji."

His alliance headband was whipped off his face and thrown off a large hill. He said he lost it when he got trapped in one of Madara's attacks.

"Don't worry Kenji, I'll get you a new one later. You just need to stay with me for now okay? Okay Kenji?" She said.

"You don't need to do that." He said solemnly. He looked out into the sky and walked forward. He had soft dark eyes—not like Sasuke's. They were bright and trustworthy. They almost gave the impression of hope and faith in the unforgiving war.

"Kenji, you need to lie back down. Kenji!"

"Sakura! Stop it." Tsunade interjected. She glanced over her shoulder and watched Tsunade's face turn sad. She knew that face too well. It was the face of loss and defeat. By now they were all wearing it, but it was just a matter of how well you could conceal it.

Kenji limped towards the battle field. It was as if he was overlooking hell. "I don't have a wife, if that's what you were going to ask me. It's just my son and I. He's safe somewhere I suppose."

Sakura walked over to him with her arms crossed. "I could…"

Kenji shook his head. "Tell him exactly how I died. Don't lie to him alright?"

"What are you talking about?"

"When I die… don't… don't tell him I fought long and hard. Tell him I was just another one of the useless ninja who died trying. Tell him you barley remembered my face, and how similar I looked like to all the other ninja. Tell him I was nobody."

Sakura reached out to save his body from collapsing into the hard earth. "Please… please don't say that."

She wanted to cry this time because they seemed like on in the same. As if they were outshined and overlooked. She devoted her whole life not to cry, but it happened anyway. She looked up and inhaled deeply. Her throat clasped shut as she spoke.

"Kenji you're strong. You're very strong so stay with me okay?"

She looked into his dark eyes and he laughed at her. It was like he was taking her as a joke. As if this whole thing was one big joke and it would all fade away when he closed his eyes. A hot gust of wind tossed them aside, and the dry brown earth covered them up like crumbs under a carpet.

He looked at her with a confident face. "You..Yo-you got to listen to me alright Sakura? Okay?"

She nodded.

"No one cares if you're great. I learned that when I was five and my dad got killed by you Leaf nin. He was a king...a good one.. but who cares you know? Who really cares?"

"Don't say that, King's are important to the village. They manage money and—,"

"You're not listening Sakura." He held out his hand and took it into hers. He acted as if they had been friends for a long time… but she had never seen him in her life before. He was right. He was just another man and she was just another girl.

"Nobody cares if you're the greatest medic who ever walked the earth. And if they do care, it's only for a second. Some people think that being great is what makes life worth living…but it's not. It's really not. So what if you're the hero or the village idiot? So what if you're the prettiest girl in the village… what I'm saying is…."

"Kenji you don't need to…"

"I do. I do need to say this." He said sternly, escaping from her grasp. "Even if you're the king, you're life means nothing if you never loved it yourself. So what if I'm a failure? So what if I died a nobody in war?"

He made a few seals with his hands and drew blood. Weapons emerged and he grasped a large sword in his hands, eyeing a reanimation of Deidara.

'Kanji!"

"You're not listening Sakura!" He shouted, through the hurling winds. "Tell my son the truth. Tell him I died trying. I don't care if I'm the son of a king, or a chivalrous ninja. I just want to be happy. That's what it's about. That's what life is about… it's about yourself. Do you get it? This life…It's about me… it's about me being enough."

He charged angrily at Deidara when he was not looking. Sakura almost thought that he would make it… that he would actually be the one to pierce him and finish the re-animation off, but he didn't. He was just another dead body that would be tossed like spinach to the dogs mouth under the dinner table. Thrown away like plastic wrap.

"Sakura! Get over here!" Tsunade said, but she couldn't move. "Are you listening? Sakura! You're a medic. You're a leaf medic!"

He just got blown up into flames and the war kept raging on without ever even knowing he existed in the first place.

Wrote it because it seemed relevant to me.

(I'll finish bête noire, I swear one day.)


End file.
